A Study Of Tapping Frequency By The Index Finger Of Unaffected Hand Of Stroke Patients With Hemiplegia

ObjectiveThis study, by testing stroke hemiplegia patients’ Barthel index,the index finger tapping frequency and the Lindmark index of stroke hemiplegia patients’ unaffected hands and healthy individuals’ ipsilateral hands and the changes of stroke hemiplegia patients’ Barthel index,the index finger tapping frequency and the Lindmark index of stroke hemiplegia patients’ unaffected hands before and after the conventional therapy and rehabilitation treatment, observes the characteristics of index finger tapping frequency of stroke hemiplegia patients’ unaffected hands and the changes of the index finger tapping frequency before and after their treatment, explores functional status of hemiplegia patients’ unaffected hands and the influence of the conventional therapy and rehabilitation treatment on the motion function of their unaffected hands,and provide foundation for the application of the index finger tapping frequency test of the unaffected hands and the evaluation of the effect of rehabilitation treatment.MethodsPart 1:In this part, there were 2 groups of subjects, the normal group(n=33, aged57.58±4.40 years) and the stroke hemiplegia group(n=27,aged 57.89±6.98 years).All the subjects of normal group were right-handed; all the subjects of stroke hemiplegia group were right-sided stroke with left-sided hemiplegia, and the unaffected hand is the right hand and all the patients were right-sided stroke before the onset of the disease; by means of the index finger tapping frequency test instrument, the 8 seconds’ index finger tapping frequency of the normal group subjects’ right hands and the stroke hemiplegia group subjects’ unaffected hands was respectively tested, and then the two groups’ performance was compared.Compare the Lindmark index difference between the normal group subjects’ right hands and the stroke hemiplegia group subjects’ unaffected hands;compare the Barthel index difference between the two groups.Part 2: There was one group in this part, i.e. the stroke hemiplegia group(n=25,aged 62.55±12.07 years).Subjects of this group were all unilateral stroke with hemiplegia and they received 2-week conventional therapy and rehabilitation treatment.Before and after the 2-week conventional therapy and rehabilitation treatment,the Barthel index,the Lindmark index and the 8 seconds’ index finger tapping frequency of stroke hemiplegia treatment group subjects’ unaffected and affected hands were respectively tested, and the performance before and after the 2-week conventional therapy and rehabilitation treatment was compared.SPSS 22.0 software was used to conduct data analysis. The data were showed in the form of mean±SD; two-sample t-test was used to compare the statistical differences of the two groups, and paired samples t-test was used for the intra-group comparison; Pearson correlation coefficients were calculatedvto establish the relations between Lindmark index and finger tapping, Barthel index and finger tapping.P value< 0.05 was proved statistically significant.ResultsBoth the subjects of the normal group and stroke hemiplegia group were tested.These two groups have no distinct difference in age, the Lindmark index and the index finger tapping frequency of the stroke hemiplegia patients’ unaffected hands were distinctly lower than that of the healthy individuals’ ipsilateral hands(P <0.05),the Barthel index of the stroke hemiplegia patients were distinctly lower than the healthy individuals(P < 0.05). In terms of gender, both the male and female subjects of these two groups has no distinct difference in age, and index finger tapping frequency of the unaffected hands of both male and female subjects in the stroke hemiplegia group is distinctly lower than that of the healthy individuals’ ipsilateral hands(P<0.05).25 subjects of stroke hemiplegia treatment group received the 2-week conventional therapy and rehabilitation treatment and the index finger tapping frequency test of unaffected and affected hands twice. After the 2-week conventional therapy rehabilitation treatment, the Barthel index,the Lindmark index and index finger tapping frequency of the unaffected hands improved than before, and the difference was significant(P < 0.05).Seen from gender, in the stroke hemiplegia treatment group, index finger tapping frequency of both female and male subjects’ unaffected hands after the treatment improved than two weeks ago and the difference was also significant(P<0.01).The difference of the Lindmark index and index finger tapping frequency of affected hands before and after the 2-week treatment was significantly improved(P<0.05). Seen from gender, index finger tapping frequency of both female and male subjects’ affected hands after the treatment improved than two weeks ago and the difference was also significant(P<0.05).ConclusionMotor function on the unaffected side in stroke hemiplegia patients decreases to some extent, and great attention should be paid to the function of the unaffected hands in stroke hemiplegia patients in clinical practice.Motor function on the unaffected side in stroke hemiplegia patients recovers to some extent after conventional therapy and rehabilitation treatment, and the recovery of the motor function on the unaffected hand during rehabilitation should be stressed and the intervention of rehabilitation treatment should be considered.The finger tapping frequency can reflect the motor function and the clinical effect of rehabilitation treatment stroke hemiplegia patients’ unaffected hands to some extent,and the index finger tapping frequency test of patients’ unaffected hands can be applied in the assessment of the hand motor function of the patients and the evaluation of the clinical effect of rehabilitation treatment.